Minor girl in Dakshina Kannada raped by 5 men in different circumstances; 3 held

Mangaluru, Jan 1: Led by two local MLAs belonging to Bharatiya Janata Party, dozens of people today forcibly stopped toll fee collection at Talapady toll gate on the outskirts of the city allowing vehicles plying between Karnataka and Kerala on the national highway 66 to travel without paying any fee for some time.

Mangaluru City South MLA D Vedavyasa Kamath and Mangaluru City North MLA Y Bharat Shetty, who led the workers, said that the Navayuga Udupi Tollway Pvt. Ltd. (NUTPL), the concessionaire of the about 90-km-long highway widening project between Talapady and Kundapura in Karnataka, had failed to complete the project since over a decade.

The service roads and two flyovers under the project remained uncompleted. Hence motorists were facing a hardship. Notwithstanding Nalin Kumar Kateel, Dakshina Kannada MP, arranging ₹56 crore loan to the NUTPL through Axis Bank to complete the prominent Pumpwell flyover in the city, the company had failed to complete it.

The MLAs said that they stopped the toll collection as a symbolic protest to bring pressure on the company to complete the project within this month.

The BJP workers who gathered near the toll gate around 7.30 a.m. forcibly removed the barricades and made the vehicles ply without paying the fee. The workers of the company managing the toll booth did not resist.

The BJP workers said that vehicles would ply without paying toll till about 6 p.m. If the company resumed the collection during the day on Wednesday, the party workers would again forcibly stop it on Thursday, they said.

Shivaprasad Rai, in-charge of toll collection of the company at Talapady, Hejmady and Sasthana on the same highway told The Hindu that the NUTPL collected about ₹7 lakh as toll fee daily at Talapady from over 12,000 vehicles. The loss on Wednesday could be about ₹4 lakh.

The project is being implemented under build, operate and transfer basis.

Mangaluru, Apr 24: The last rites of the elderly woman who died of covid-19 yesterday was finally held in the wee hours of Friday amidst tight security at Kaikunje Hindu Rudra Bhoomi near BC Road bus stand in spite of severe opposition from the members of the own community.

The funeral was held as per the protocol for COVID-19 deaths, police said.

Prior to this hundreds of Hindus had staged a protest  last night in front of Pachanady Hindu Rudra Bhoomi near Vamanjoor following reports that the the 77-year-old coronavirus positive woman's mortal remains will be cremated there.

Mangaluru North MLA Bharat Shetty rushed to the spot and convinced the protesters that he will not allow the authorities to cremate the body at Pachanady. Hence, the authorities shifted the cremation venue, it is learnt. 

Meanwhile, many local residents staged protest at Pachanady against the cremation of the dead body of a coronavirus positive woman. Hence, additional police force was sent from Mangaluru to disperse the crowd and facilitate the last rite.

According to sources, initially the authorities had  planned to cremate body at Baddakatte Hindu Rudra Bhoomi near here native place in Bantwal. However, the locals and the community elders had forced the authorities to change the plan.

Such protests due to misconception about the spread of coronavirus had been witnessed in some other parts of the country, including in Chennai, and the governments have warned of action against those opposing cremation or burial of COVID-19 patients.

So far as many as 17 covid-19 postive cases have been reported in Dakshina Kannada including two deaths from same family from Bantwal's Kasba village.

Bengaluru, Apr 18: Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar on Saturday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deposit at least Rs 10,000 in bank accounts of people belonging to the unorganised sector.

"The unorganised sector comprises barbers, dhobi, cooks, carpenters, sweepers, drivers and autorickshaw drivers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not mention anything about giving subsistence to these people," Shivakumar, told ANI, referring to the Prime Minister's address earlier this week.

Modi had announced the extension of the ongoing nationwide lockdown till May 3 in order to curb the spread of coronavirus.

"I appeal to Prime Minister Modi to register the members of the unregistered sector under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) or deposit at least Rs 10,000 to the bank accounts of each of the members of unorganised sector to help them survive the lockdown," he added.

Though the Congress party will continue the central government and state government's fight against coronavirus, he said, both the governments need to help people who are part of the unorganised sector.

"The farmers have told me that due to the lockdown they are ready to sell the vegetables, which once used to be sold at Rs 100 per kg, at even Rs 5 per kg," he said.

Speaking on the suggestions he made to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, Shivakumar said, "I requested the Chief Minister to send a team to do a videograph and make an assessment of the on-ground situation. However, till now, no one has gone."